Sweetheart of slopes

NBC cameras ready to focus on Vonn because she expresses Olympic ideal

February 07, 2010|By Chris Dufresne, Tribune newspapers

Lindsey Vonn was going downhill so fast -- in a wholesome, epic, lucrative way -- there wasn't time to wait for her to win an actual Olympic medal.

Vonn's script was penned months ago by writers of the round table, and should her skis take turns for the Whistler worse, well, in snow business, there's always white-out.

Usually in America you need first to cry through your national anthem to activate the Olympic gold card, but Vonn's forward momentum could not be contained.

She is the drink of these Olympics (Red Bull), the watch (Rolex) and the face (Cover Girl).

"Lindsey is authentic," David Neal, NBC's executive producer for the Olympics, said of her star power. "She's very telegenic. She's the best woman skier in the world. Lindsey has the whole package -- athletic ability, personality. She's the sort of person that is made for television."

Best of U.S.

Vonn is 25, already transcendent, already a commodity and already the greatest female U.S. skier in history.

The yodelers and cowbell ringers overseas already know what prime time in America is about to discover. Vonn has 31 World Cup victories -- an astonishing nine this season -- one shy of Bode Miller's American record of 32.

Vonn ranks eighth on the all-time World Cup victory list, within striking distance of Austrian Annemarie Proell's record of 62.

At 16, she finished sixth in the combined at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Four years later, a head-over-boots training crash in the Italian Alps likely cost her something shiny and special.

Vonn, battered and bruised, returned from her hospital bed to finish eighth in the downhill, seventh in the super-giant slalom and 14th in the slalom.

Since Italy, she has woman-handled the World Cup circuit, capturing two overall titles. Her bib number is a bull's-eye.

"Everyone is out there essentially to beat me," she said on a pre-Olympics conference call from Switzerland before she won the super-G at St. Moritz. "It's hard. It's hard to be consistently fast, day in and day out. Vancouver is going to be no different."

NBC has spent the year filling film canisters with background. A five-event skier, Vonn is being promoted by some as the Michael Phelps of the Winter Olympics.

Photographers have dressed her up in evening gowns for cover shoots. Travelers in window seats know her as the cover girl on Midwest Airlines Magazine.

Vonn has traded quips with Conan O'Brien and made Internet lists that chronicle such relevant things as "World's Hottest Athletes."

Lindsey resents being labeled the anti-Bode Miller, but her fresh face and toothpaste smile serve as the anti-venom to Italy, where Miller flopped on snow as he flipped the world the proverbial bird.

Scandal and Vonn have yet to be introduced.

OK, her marriage to an older former ski racer after the 2006 games caused an initial ripple.

"We as a staff are very protective over the kids," U.S. women's coach Jim Tracy admitted. "And when boyfriends come in, we're very protective over athletes to make sure they're not distracted and taken out of their games, so to speak."

Love, in her case, has been a splendored thing, with Vonn's career going bells and whistles after matrimony.

"He's the main reason why I've had a lot of success the last couple of years," Vonn recently said of Thomas.

The Vonns look like wedding cake figurines. Also, they did not bolt the U.S. ski team to run their own program. Vonn still trains with the Americans and offers inspiration and instruction.

"She's so professional," U.S. teammate Stacey Cook said. "Everything down to what water bottle she's drinking out of is planned, prepared. That's the amazing part. We get to ski with the best skier in the world every day."

Kaylin Richardson, also from Minnesota, said Vonn is a game changer. Watching her viciously slice and dice a training run a few years ago, Richardson uttered in awe, "Oh, my gosh, she's skiing like a dude!"

Then Vonn fixes her hair and becomes a runway model, the kind of glamour and grit combination that gives her so much sex appeal.

A rep for one of her sponsors called Vonn "the perfect storm of nice."

NBC isn't worried about her doing a pub crawl in Whistler.

"I want to be a good example," Vonn said during a lengthy interview last summer. "I think it's rare in this day to find people who are honest and moral and aren't arrested for something. Know what I mean? It's hard for kids to look up to people because you never know what they're going to do. I'm not out there just playing the game. I'm out there trying to do a good job and be a good person. That's really important."

TMZ, give it your best shot.

Last February, she cut tendons in her right thumb grabbing a broken champagne bottle while celebrating victory at the World Championships in France.